Inslee: Iranian-Americans detained in Blaine is ‘unacceptable’

By David Rasbach / The Bellingham Herald

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee called the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s denial that it had detained dozens of Iranian-American citizens over the weekend at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine “simply not credible,” in a news release Monday.

“The reports out of the border crossing at Blaine are deeply alarming,” Inslee’s statement said. “Washingtonians who happen to be Iranian-American were detained at the Canadian-U.S. border for extended periods of time for no other reason than their ethnicity or country of origin. This is wrong and rife with constitutional and moral problems. No one should be treated differently due to where they come from, how they look or what language they speak.

“What Americans endured over the weekend in Blaine is unacceptable. This will not stand in Washington state, and we will continue to push for answers to ensure that it does not happen again. We’ve learned time and again that we cannot trust the Trump administration.”

The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent out a news release Sunday stating that it was assisting more than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans that had been detained and questioned for a lengthy time in Blaine.

According to the council’s release, those who were detained reported having their passports confiscated and being questioned about their political beliefs and allegiances.

The release also said that CBP officials at Blaine refused to comment on the reasons for the detentions.

The claims come in the wake of last week’s U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the mastermind of its interventions across the Middle East. Iran promised to seek revenge, and the U.S. said Friday that it was sending thousands more troops to the region as tensions soared.

“Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false,” CBP spokesperson Michael Friel said in a statement to The Bellingham Herald Sunday. “Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.”

CBP spokesperson Jason Givens told The Bellingham Herald Monday that he did not have anything to add beyond the statement made Sunday.

“I understand that the CBP has said that no such thing has occurred, but it is difficult to believe that when you listen to the multiple accounts of what happened,” U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal said in a news conference in Seattle following a meeting with Iranian community leaders.

Rep. Jayapal also said CBP claims that short staffing due to the holiday were difficult believe, “because there were in fact clearly many people being processed through, and the only people being pulled aside and held back and detained in some form and fashion were people of Iranian-American heritage.”

Through her staff’s work with groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Jayapal said her office was able to verify that people of Iranian-American descent were indeed subjected to additional scrutiny, had their passports taken and weren’t allowed to leave.

“It appears that was a result of some sort of directive that we are trying to get to the bottom of what that was,” Jayapal said.

Negah Hekmati, 38, told a news conference at Jayapal’s Seattle office on Monday that she and her husband were detained, along with their 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, from midnight to 5 a.m. Sunday as they returned from a ski trip. They are all U.S. citizens, though she and her husband were born in Iran.

The family is in the NEXUS program — an expedited border-crossing program for low-risk travelers — and visits relatives in Canada about once a month, she said. They had never previously been detained for so long.

“My daughter was telling me, ‘Please don’t speak Farsi. Maybe if you don’t speak Farsi they won’t take you,’” said Hekmati. “This is not OK.”

Border guards took their passports, NEXUS cards and car keys, she said. They questioned her about her parents, her education and her Facebook and email accounts, she said, and asked her husband about the military service he was required to perform in Iran as a young man.

Another family they were traveling with was similarly detained, and they said they saw about two dozen other families — all of Iranian descent — in the same waiting area, Hekmati said. Only one white family passed through the area while they were there, she said, and that family was allowed to leave within minutes.

Inslee’s statement referenced Japanese-Americans being detained during World War II and having their constitutional and civic rights removed out of fear and hatred.

“This cannot become a new era of intimidation and division,” Inslee’s statement said.

“I will continue to stand up for the rights and protections of all Washingtonians.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.